After Retirement

We are just back from 5 weeks in Gran Canaria so a very pleasant January and a week in Feb. We don’t look at it as a holiday but as a different place to live, so we would cook in the apartment mostly and eat out and have drinks around twice a week. We do a lot of walking a swim in the sea every day and off in the bus to visit a village or a different area. Most days weather was 24/26 .
I am just retired about 17 months and I’m enjoying my time so far. I walk cycle play golf. I have a yoga class and a weights class and this year I’m going to take swimming classes. I have not been bored yet. My husband retired a year before me and is also busy every day. We enjoy traveling so I’m looking at inter railing this year maybe 6 weeks in Europe. I am in a Facebook group Inter railing for older people and you get great ideas there. I’m also looking at volunteering one day a week but have not found the right one yet.
Before Christmas I did an online cookery course and it was very good.
I feel the main thing is to have an open mind and to challenge yourself. We really liked the area we went to in Gran Canaria this year and my husband would love to return there again but I try to go new places no matter how much I loved the place.
 
David_Dublin said:
Does the inclination to spend as little as possible to increase kids inheritance creep up on you as you get older? As of now, at age 50, I have no intention of being frugal in my retirement!
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Interesting one I think it depends on their age and whether you want to help them on the housing ladder etc. etc.
....I can see how this might happen though,,,...perhaps encouraged by the same "kids"!
I guess the more (financially?) independent the "kids "are the less I think this might come to mind....
I suppose there is also a difference as well between being frugal and not being very extravagant!
On the other hand If you provide them "too much" e.g. at one extreme knowing a large inheritance is coming their way it could make the "kids" lazy or reduce their ambition.
Just some thoughts....
 
To all the retirees sipping wine in Spain and Portugal, and the Canaries.
Just to let you know I cycled to work in the rain this morning. (along a cycle path).

The reason I cycle to work in the rain, is because I hate sitting in traffic!

Just jealous is all, but I'm two years away from retirement myself, so there's that to look forwards to.

Enjoy yourselves. You deserve it.
 
As Mary Lou would say, you can say this too "Tiocfaidh ar la"
 
Reactions: mtk
How are all the retirees doing this year ? Any difficulties renting a place for a period of time with local unrest or has that quietened down a little ?
 
ClubMan said:
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I think he is referring specifically to this
 
Thanks Elcato, yes this was exactly what I was referring to.

Was wondering how usual posters like Leper, Cervelo et al are doing and curious to see if new members of the retiree rank are enjoying themselves.

While Mrs Benbulben and myself cannot do it yet (looking to go in circa 10 years at 60) I do enjoy hearing about everyone's experiences and living vicariously through them !
 
Thanks for reminding me/quoting me. Original post was in Feb last year, so now I'm one year away from retirement.
 
Just for the record I’m still the right side of the grass and just about making 183 days per tax year in Ireland to keep me in the tax net there, But, life is too short to be enduring snow, ice, rain, moaning, groaning, bitchin’, stupid financial advice etc. I’m looking at the Med as I write and it’s about nineteen degrees here. I wear shorts and tee shirts each day up to 5.00pm. We do siesta for half the week and do serious trekking at least twice weekly. I’ve read my brains out, ran Netflix dry, and eat out a few times per week too. Do we miss Ireland - Of course we do (Well not really!). I dont Know why every retiree in Ireland is not doing this, but that’s outside of my control.
 
Has any retiree gone back to education, but in a European city? Can I relive my Erasmus youth in my twilight years, doing a course just for pleasure? I feel like there would be something like this available. I must do my research.
 
Nice one Lep, even I'm a little green with envy

Wow it's nearly two years since I last posted in this thread, lets see what's changed since then

The cycling never really got going again, I got back out on the road and was building fitness in '23 but the mind wasn't in it
I just got very nervous about my safety while out on the bike, on a 3 hours ride,180 minutes there would be 5 maybe 10 seconds where I genuinely felt my safety or physical well being was at risk from other road users and though you can't, not expect this to happen, when it's happening on a daily basis you and you're hearing the horror stories of other cyclists, you realise that it's probably only a mater of time before I'm one of those horror stories

So in March of last year I took up walking, just around my local area, in the 4+ parks close to and along the coast line either side of Dun Laoghaire building it up to 3 hour walk of 16/18Km which I have to say surprised me at how enjoyable just walking was but never in my life could I have expected the amount of blisters, chaffing and sore muscles that walking would unleash on my poor body
Stopped in early November but have as last Monday hit the paths again but am only starting with a daily 5K till I adjust properly

Gaming or more specifically Warzone became my addiction in '23 and '24 and though I enjoyed it then for the fun and the people I met online recently, as in the last couple of months things have changed in the Warzone world and if all is to be believed we are witnessing the multi billion parent company Activision having it's own "Titanic Event" that it's not going to recover from
So I going to have to go and explore other gaming franchises to replace the "free bird moments" and thankfully there's one coming later in the year, GTA 6

Travel wise, after a few years of humming and hawing we've booked for this year, the long talked about trip to Japan with a short stopover in Beijing, which I have to say am really looking forward to as I haven't been away since I returned from Spain in '22
That probably will be it as regards to traveling abroad for this year but have been watching a few programs on RTE about Ireland and it has perked an interest in a bit of travel around Ireland be it a day trip or a mid week break type thing with an OPW heritage card

Other then that and unlike Mr Leper I'm quite happy to be spending my winters here, I've binged watched so much that I sometimes I can't even remember what I watched last week let alone last night and have to really think about it before I could answer you, what have you watched
Go to the cinema whenever there's something worth watching on the big screen but that seems to be a rarity these days
And have meals out with friends or takeaways in their houses or ours at least once a month

Other then that the only thing I can say is I do look forward to getting up each and every morning, there's no snooze button on my clock
 
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Mind if I ask how you source longer term rentals, how you go about choosing where to locate yourself, do you change it up each time?
I can see a massive attraction of a long term rental somewhere warm, with hill walking and near sea, and some sort of community, ideally. Maybe disappear in November and rent until March, come home for Christmas. Or else, leave just after Christmas. Have friends come and visit, if they wish.
 
I have posted previously on this forum regarding rentals abroad. You could do worse checking the full content.
 
The thing I try and tell people about retirement is, it's not a one size fits all thing or way of thinking

This is your personal life unencumbered by your previous working life and how you make that life enjoyable/fantastic is solely in your hands
and not some advertising campaign, from a pensions company or third party, of how you should be living your life in retirement

I'm a man that loves quotes, I've dropped many of them in my posts over the years, I think their little pearls of wisdom that should mulled over to extract the true meaning and insight that they provide and I'll leave you with this little gem

If your unhappy with any area of your life, be it financial, physical health, mental health, relationships with friends or partners or any other area of you life that you're unhappy about, if you're not addressing that problem, not actively looking for a solution, not challenging the status que

or to use the quote "if you're not changing, you're choosing.....
 
I am in my early seventies and have been retired a long time, having taking early retirement.

We have been reducing the amount of work that we do in the garden and for 2025 we are hoping that it will be just grass cutting and some shrub trimming. Gone are the 9 raised beds of vegetables now replaced with a Lavender walk.

We have booked two holidays for 2025 so far. Portugal and France. Looking at Germany as a third and the big one to visit Hong Kong in the autumn is well in progress. I may try and squeeze in a Spanish one, half board job, then I don't have to think about choosing a restaurant each evening.

Each year I look back over Christmas. It can start as early as November and then ends with a bang on the 28th December. It seems like a million years has passed already. Each year I say never again but each year it turns out the same. Definitely next year we are going to do things differently.

I like Ireland. I like being familiar with my local area. Supermarkets, pharmacy, coffee shops, take aways etc. I enjoy watching TV and like Cervelo, we have binge watched numerous shows and enjoy doing this.

My brother texted me yesterday to say that he and his wife and sitting in the sun in Spain just reading. He spends 6 months of the year there. He has his own place.

We have often thought of doing a Lep and heading off to Spain for a few months....but with family here, grandchildren etc. we like to be around. I think that we may go for 3 to 4 weeks at a time next year initially to see how that works. We have the money to return as needs be and travel back out again.

The cold spell of last week really got to us. We couldn't keep our house warm. I think that may have been the decider for me because I felt the cold.

Cervelo, I am based in Blackrock. I wonder do we ever cross paths in our walks. I would not be a big walker.....are you in a walking club or is it a solo thing?
 
What a lovely thread. The stories here really cheered me up this morning as I try to knuckle down and do some work. I am a few years away from being able to retire but I am looking forward to it so much and cant wait to be free from the grind and the pressure and the lack of spare time.
 
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